^■f  Q  *^•«^■ 


A 


BY    THE 


y 


REV.  W.  P.  SHROM. 


FEB  11  1953  ^ 


'£X16 


'^ 


^  FEB  11  1953^;^ 


SERMON 


1>K!JVEKKD 


BEFORE  THE  STUDENTS 


OV 


lebanoH  iailep  College, 


-A^ivj>>'ij.i^E,  r>^^. 


BY 


/ 


Mmk  m  ^  SmmBM^  M.  M., 


SABBATH,  JUNE  2,  1872. 


^)^ifm£,MMM&  0r  TMM  ^^T^wmm^i^s. 


LEBANON,  PA.  : 
Pen>.syi-vanier,  Pkint. 

1872 


/■' 


^^  (POfJ-A^-t^%.'i0^''^'t   ^»6.HS<L>l-^^ 


4^. 


^ 


Text.— Acquaint  now  thyself  with  Him,  and  be  at  peace ;  tliereby  good  shall  come  unto  thee. 
—Job  XXII :  21. 

Every  man  should  have  an  acquaintance  with  God.  There  is  no  sphere  of 
life  in  which,  as  active  agents,  men  are  not  beUer  qualified  for  their  duties  when 
controlled  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  There  is  no  employment  that  is  not  exalted  and 
dignified  when  those  engaged  in  it  are  men  possessing  the  Spirit  of  Christ  — 
Both  to  the  worker  and  the  work  much  is  added  when  Christ  is  added,  for  He  is 
all — and  should  be  all  in  all. 

But  while  this  is  universally  true,  there  are  special  reasons  why  every  student 
should  have  an  acquaintance  with  God, — why  he  should  have  frequent,  free 
communication  with  Him, — living  in  an  intimate  relation  to  Him, — reasons  I 
mean,  in  addition  to  those  having  direct  reference  to  eternal  interests,  and 
which  apply  equally  to  every  man,  and  which  are  infinite  in  importance. 

1.  A  student's  mind  is  in  process  of  development.  His  intellectual  powers 
are  expanded  and  strengthened  by  continued  exercise.  It  is  possible  for  this 
development  of  intellectual  faculties  to  take  place  without  effecting  in  any  way 
the  moral  faculties.  A  man  may  become  a  good  mathematician  and  this  in  no 
way  tend  to  make  him  consciencious-  He  may  be  skillful  in  tracing  Greek  aiad 
Hebrew  roots  but  not  able  to  break  off  a  bad  habit.  He  may  with  ease  traverse 
the  varied  lines  of  history  ;  be  at  home  in  science  and  philosophy,  theorize 
upon  systems  of  religion  with  as  much  skill  as  a  doctor  of  divinity,  yet  not 
have  called  out  one  emotion  that  developed  his  moral  nature. 

An  education  is  imperfect  in  so  far  as  it  fails  to  effect  the  whole  man  —  in 
whom  there  are  at  least  three  interests  to  be  attended  to, — viz:  the  moral,  the 
intellectual  ^xid  the  physical.  Neither  of  these  can  be  neglected  without  pos- 
itive loss— a  loss  not  only  in  the  parts  neglected  but  a  loss  to  what  is  attended 
to.  The  mind  develops  best  when  each  of  the  other  interests  receives  due  at- 
tion,  and  only  then. 

In  a  course  of  study  there  is  development  in  the  student  whatever  exists  in 
his  nature,  provided  it  be  properly  exercised.  When  a  child  loves  its  parent 
tenderly  and  truly,  that  affection  becomes  deeper,  purer   and  stronger  as  the 


2 

child,  under  careful  instruction,  ripens  into  manhood.  The  tendency  of  ed-  ^ 
ucation  is  to  elevate  and  strengthen  the  whole  man, — all  his  finer  sensibilities 
and  attributes.  Here  is  found  one  of  the  false  suppositions  of  the  ignorant,  in. 
thiukingthst  graduation  from  college,  implies  that  the  student  has  learned 
the  required  number  of  facts,  and  is,  in  consequence  set  free  with  the  attendant 
honors.  It  is  looked  upon  as  a  taking  in,  or  pouring  in  process,  —  as  if  there 
had  been  introduced  into  the  mind  proportionate  amounts  of  Latin,  Greek, 
Mathematics,  Natural  Science,  Philosophy,  &c  ,  and  that  the  sum  of  all  these 
constitutes  the  student's  education.  This  is  far  from  the  truth.  It  is  not  to 
gather  facts  ihat  you  are  here  as  students;  It  i?  not  to  learo  ;  It  is  to  develop, 
to  discipline,  to  e-ducn^~to  lead  out  the  powers  that  are  in  the  growing  man. 
In  this  leading  out  process  all  that  is  within  you,  tha^  is  exerv?ised  and  at- 
tended to,  is  lead  out,— tliat  is,  it  is  developed  and  brought  under  better  dis- 
cipline. 

1  Now  in  order  that  there  may  be  moral  principles  developed,  they  nuif:t  not 
I  only  exist  in  the  intellectual  conceptions,  but  must  be  brought  into  actual  ex- 
ercise as  moral  principles.  There  is  a  wide  difference  between  having  a  high 
I  intellectual  nature  of  a  moral  quality  arid  possessing  it  in  reality  as  a  moral 
quality.  A  man  may  have  an  intellectuil  acquaintance  with  God, -may  in- 
tellectually possess  very  commendable  apprehensio»is  of  Gold's  love,  but  this 
will  never  develop  love  for  God  in  his  own  heart.  To  accomplish  this  he  must 
actively,  and  in  reality  love  Him.  The  only  way  to  grow  benevolent  is  by  the 
actual  exercise  of  giving,  the  only  way  to  cultivate  conscience  i^  by  living  con- 
scientiously, in  all  things. 

But  before  any  of  these  moral  qualities  can  be  successfury  and  truly  d(tve\. 
oped,  it  is  necessary  that  you  acquaint  yourself  with  God,  —  that  you  be  at 
peace  with  Him.  By  nature  we  are  enemies  to  God,  and  must  be  reconciled  to 
Hun,  we  are  foreigners  and  stranger.^  to  Ris  commonwealth  and  must  renew  our 
allegiance  and  our  acquaintance.  Ibis  v\e  can  do  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Mediator* 

If  we  are  reconciled  to  God  and  his    love  is  implanted  in   the  heart, — if  the 

j  chief  desire  of  the  heart  be  to  love  Him,  to   know  Him,  and    to  glorify    Him 

j  more    and  more  in  our  lives,  then   as  the  mind  passes  out  into   new    fields   of 

I  thought,  it  is   to  find  new  reasons   for  loving  Him.     As  we  go  neeper  into  the 

I  book  of  nature  it  is  only  to  find  His  name  more  legibly  written  on  every  page 

j  The  speechless  flower  elegantly  teaches  us  of  His  wisdom,   and  His  love.     If 

I  science  lead   us  into  the  earth,    behold  He  is  there!  for  in  His  mighty  power 

I  hath  He  made  it. — The  rocks  whisper  to  us  of  His  eternity.     Or  if  in  our   in_ 

j  quiries  we  are  led  out  into  space,  where  in  thought   we  keep  step  with    the  mo- 

sjj  tion  and  music  of  the  spheres,  and  watch  them  with   wonder,  in  their  pathless 


^ 


^ffl^ 


courses,  we  hear  a  voice  from  their  midst  calling  aloud  to  us,  "T^e  heavens  de- 
clare the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  show eih  His  handiwork.  Day  unto  day 
idtereth  speech  and  night  unto  night  showeth  knowledge.''  Full  of  adoration, 
yet  humbled  by  our  conceptiou  of  His  immensity  we  shout  back  in  answer, 
''When  Icondder  Thy  heavens,  the  ivork  of  Thy  fingers,  the  moon  and  the  stars 
which  Thou  hast  ordained,  what  is  man  that  Thou  art  mindfid  of  him,  or  the  son 
of  man  that  Thou  visitest  him. 

I  say  then,  youDg  gentlemen,  that  with  the  love  of  Go.]  buroing  within 
year  hearts,  —  filling  you  with  a  desire  to  know  more  and  more  of  Him,  you 
will  mount  up  on  philosophy,  science  and  art,  as  with  wings.  Each  of  these 
bringinjjT  you  into  a  more  perfect  knowledge  of  Him  whose  you  are  and  for 
whose  glory  you  live.  Every  new  conquest  of  thought,  every  new  science  will 
impress  convic/Ious  of  the  Divine  Attributes  deeper  and  deeper  upon  your 
hearts,  or  reveal  to  you  some  new  pjiase  of  God's  character.  You  may  sa^  with 
the  prophet  of  old,  'From  the  top  of  the  rocks  I  see  Him,  and  from  the  hills  I 
behold  him." 

2.     I  now  add  that  it  is  important  that  this  ac  juaintanre  with  God  be  made 
at  the  beginning  of  a  course  of  study.     In  this  there  is  no  time  to  be  lost. 

(1)     Tlse  devtlopineut  of  christian  character  is  a  matter  of  growth.      The 
earlier  it  i.s    introduced    into  life,  the   more  carefully  it  is  cultivated,  the  more 
rap'diy  will  it  approximate  a  state  of  maturity.     Your  college  life  is  decidedly 
a  period  of  development, —a  time  of  growth  and  discipline.     If  the  first    prin- 
ciples of  chiistianity  are  early  introduced  into  the  heart,  they  share  in   the  gen" 
eral  growth.     There  will  be  a  mutual  acting  and  reacting  between  the   mental 
and  moral  u.itures,  each  bettering   the  condition  and  hastening  the  growth    ot 
the  other.     To  possess  a  true  moral  character  implies  a  cultivation  of  patient 
humility  and  endurance;  a  freedom  fiom  selfishness,  envy  and  jealousy  ,  a  liv" 
ing  tar  above  and  ap^rt  from  ^he  common  tricks  and   schisms,  and   thrusts  of 
narrow  minded  worldly  men.     It   implies  a   cultivated   self-control    and    self- 
respect,  without  which  a  man  is  but  a  child  of  chance— a  slave  to  passion.     To 
attain  these  is  not  the  work  of  a  day,  but  the  labor  of  a   lifetime.     For  such  a 
character  you  should  seek  wich  as  much  anxiety  and  pat  lent  enduranca  as  the 
rasner  seeks  his  fortune,  and  value  it  as  highly  as  the  miser  does  his  gold. 

(2.)  It  {^dangerous  to  advance  far  into  a  course  of  study  without  an  acquain- 
tance with  God,  because  one  tendency  of  study  is  to  lead  a  student  to  expect 
demonstration,  before  he  accepts  any  proposition  as  true.  He  demands  proof 
for  every  statement  This  is  not,  in  itself,  unrefisonable,  nor  improper,  but  the 
danger  lies  in  his  demanding  a  kind  and  degree  of  proof,  which  from  the  nature  of 
the  case  cannot  be  furnished.  Some  become  extremely  mathematical  in  their  way 
of  thiokiug,  and  consequently  reject  everything  that  cannot  be  brought  to  their 

P 


minds  under  the  form  of  a  mathematical  proposition,  carefully  stated  and  clearly 
proved.  The  tendency  with  such  a  mind  would  be  to  reject  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  or  to  set  aside  the  Person  of  Christ  Other  minds  deal  with  visible 
facts,  and  cannot  be  satisfied  fully  until  they  have  seen  or  handled.  Others  do 
not  stop  with  facts  but  persistently  push  beyond  these  into  the  reason  of  every 
phenomenon,  rejecting  every  proposition  that  cannot  be  logically  stated  and 
understood,  While  Christianity  is  abundantly  established  by  satisfactory  evi- 
dence, it  does  not  force  itself  upon  individual  peculiarities,  and  because  of  its 
origin  and  nature,  it  cannot  be  brought  -wholly  within  the  limits  of  finite  com- 
prehension. Every  man  in  course  of  study  is  in  danger  of  developing  in  such 
a  direction  as  at  least  to  give  him  much  trouble,  anxiety  and  doubt,  in  accept- 
ing Christianity,  or  perhaps  be  the  occasion  of  rejecting  it  altogether*  There 
is  a  world  of  truth  and  meaning  in  the  remark  of  a  German  Philosopher,  who 
said,  "The  most  important  subject,  and  th*  first  problem  of  philosophy,  is  the 
restoration  in  man  of  the  lost  image  of  God.''  Intellectual  development  is  safe 
only  after  a  man  is  "born  again,"  after  his  immortal  nature  h'as  been  made  anew, 
and  he  has  been  adopted  into  the  family  of  God, 

(3.)  A  student's  life  is  one  of  doubt.  There  is  no  period  of  life,  either  earlier 
or  later,  in  which  a  man  is  so  liable  to  be  misguided,  because  of  an  unsettled 
state  of  mind,  or  when  every  truth  appears  so  deeply  veiled  in  doubt.  It 
is  a  period  of  examination,  of  investigation,  of  formation.  T^^e  mind  is  contin- 
ually taking  on  nCfV  shapes;  it  is  moulding  and  remoulding 

The  student  learns  in  every  department  of  his  course  the  uncertainty  of  things, 
and  is  convinced  of  his  own  inability  to  discover  absolute  truths.  The  subjects 
investigated  are  new ;  of  necessity  they  are  passed  over  rapidly  and  are  not 
always  well  understood.  There  is  not  time  for  thoughts  to  mature.  All  this 
sort  of  exercise  has  som3  sort  of  tendency  to  create  an  unsettled  state,  and  to 
cultivate  doubt,  in  the  growing  mind,— I  say  growing,  because  like  things  might 
not  thus  efiect  a  mind  once  mature.  I  know  of  nothing  that  will  counter-bal- 
ance these  tendencies  so  well  as  Christianity*  This  introduces  into  the  heart 
something  that  is  absolutely  certain  and  that  in  the  greatest  doubt  will  bring 
relief.  When  truly  realized  the  hea^-t  is  fortified  by  it.  Logic  can  not  shake 
off*  the  effects  and  deep  convictions  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Without  stme  anchorage 
to  the  soul  there  is  great  danger  of  these  doubts  ripening  into  skepticism  and 
infidelity.  When  a  man  becomefc!  sm  infidel  he  is  only  a  wrecked  hope— a 
miserable  creature.  He  drifts  through  life  as  aimlessly  and  uselessly  as  the 
bubble  floats  upon  the  tide,— or  as  the  vessel  without  a  pilot  drifts  upon  the 
ocean,  driven  hither  and  thither  by  the  winds.  It  is  dreadful  for  any  one  to 
become  doubtful  on  matters  of  religion,  but  it  is  more  intensely  so  for  a  young 


rs*. 


man  or  woman  of  cultivated  miud.  My  own  observation  in  this  matter  has 
been,  that  very  few  young  men  who  pass  through  college  without  becoming 
christians,  ever  become  such  afterwards,  and  especially  has  this  been  true  when 
there  were  tendencit  s  toward  infidelity.  But  ifthe  heart  be  first  united  to  God,  the 
eflect  ot  study  greatly  streogihens  the  chord  by  which  it  is  bound.  Day  by 
day,  as  the  student  nears  the  end  of  his  collegiate  journey,  he  may  realize  more 
and  more  that  this  anchorage  is  both  sure  and  steadfast. 

8.  You  need  an  acquaintance  with  God  to  sustain  you  while  in  college,  for 
college  life  is  not  without  its  temptations,  trials  and  diseouragements.  Of  these 
I  can  name  only  a  few.  There  are  two  sources  of  temptation  that  are  perhaps 
more  demoralizing  to  a  student's  success  than  any  other,  viz:  idleness  and  love 
of  pleasure.  It  is  not  here  implied  that  every  moment  must  find  a  book  in 
hand,  nor  that  there  is  no  pleasure  to  be  found  in  a  course  of  study.  But  it  is 
implied  and  expected  that  no  time  will  be  wasted  unnecessarily,  and  that  pleas- 
ure seeking  will  be  at  most  only  a  secondary  matter,  and  that  this  be  found  some- 
where within  the  limits  of  those  things  which  cultivate  and  refine,  thus  fitting 
the  growing  man  for  future  usefulness. 

To  be  a  christian  is  t'^  be  conscientious  in  aH  things,  and  to  be  conscientious 
is  to  possess  a  strons/  stimulus  to  duty.  It  may  be  that  not  every  one  who  is  a 
christian  realizes  this  — that  is,  not  every  one  realizes  that  he  can  study  better, 
recite  better,  economize  better  time  when  these  duties  are  made  a  matter  of 
conscience.  If  so,  it  is  y  oar  own  fault.  Everything  with  a  christian  ought  to  be 
a  mattei  of  conscience -ought  to  be  done  promptly  and  well  done,  because  it 
is  right,  and  this  sense  of  right  when  cultivated  is  powerful  in  its  effect,  both  in 
moulding  character  and  in  moving  to  action. 

But  a  student  needs  to  be  sustained  in  the  frequent  trials  with  which  he 
meets,— trials  arising  from  failure  in  the  recitation  room,  from  the  success  of  a 
rival  student,  from  the  frequent  jealousy  springing  up  from  various  causes 
from  the  feelings  which  arise  when  he  is  completely  discouraged  with  hia  own 
efforts,  because  every  new  attempt  at  success  is  accompanied  with  greater  fail- 
ure. He  needs  to  be  sustained  during  those  long  days,  that  come  only  too 
often  in  every  students  life,  when  from  some  unknown  cause  he  cannot  study 
with  any  success  when  there  are  headaches  and  heartaches,  when  the  mind 
,  wanders  homeward  in  search  of  absent  friends,  or  scenes  long  since  past,  when 
he  grows  weary  of  books  and  hates  school,  when  the  sight  of  his  teacher  is  the 
sight  of  his  master,  to  think  of  him  is  to  think  of  a  tyrant;  when  he  grow^ 
almost  desperate,  and  resolves  to  break  away  from  his  prison  house  and  live 
free  like  the  birds.  Have  you  not  realized  such  days  and  such  feelings  ?  I 
think  there  are  few  classes  of  men  who  work  as  hard,  with  as  many  temptations 


6 

and  discouragements,  and  as  little  sympathy,  as  hard  working  students.  The 
day  laborer  may  toil  to  great  weariness,  but  he  can  turn  about  each  evening 
and  see  what  he  has  don9.  The  student  may  toil  almost  to  exhaustion,  for  a 
whole  year,  yet  be  unable  to  see  that  he  has  accomplished  anything  perma- 
nently. 

Many  of  you  are  anxiously  looking  to  tbe  future,  impatient  to  complete  your 
course,  wondering  what  you  will  do,  and  where  you  will  be  whea  you  get 
through.  The  great  trouble  with  many  of  you  now  is  a  want  of  means.  The 
future  is  dark,  the  way  seems  shut  up  before  you.  As  many  students  are  dis- 
couraged on  this  as  on  all  other  accounts.  Now  for  all  these  ilia — these  temp- 
tations, trials  and  discouragements  I  have  a  remedy  to  suggest.  It  is  to  be  so 
well  acquainted  with  God  that  you  can  freely  carry  all  these  to  Hira,  making 
Him  your  confident  and  private  cooselor  It  is  in  these  apparently  little  things 
that  you  most  especially  need  assistanee  Your  teachers  can  d«  but  little  f(ir 
you  in  these  matters.  The  outside  world  cannot  at  all  appreciate  your  feelings, 
you  need  not  expect  much  sympathy  from  any  earthly  source  You  may  not  be 
able  to  escape  these  trials  but  you  can  find  much  sympathy,  comfort  and  help 
in  Christ 

I  am  not  now  speaking  at  random,  am  not  speakiug  in  general  terms  which 
may  or  may  not  include  these  ills  of  the  .student.  1  speak  of  that  in  wjiich  I 
have  had  myself  some  bitter  but  some  ssveet  experience  I  speak  also  of  wltat 
I  know  from  the  testimony  (^f  others,  bur  most  of  all  I.  ptak  from  what  I  Know 
of  Christ  Jesus,  who  taught  both  by  pre-*ept  and  example.  It  was  HIh  clnef 
business  while  on  earth  to  b«ud  up  broken  hearts,  to  heal  wounded  spirits,  to 
sustain  the  weak  and  feeble,  to  feed  the  hungry  and  t<)  supply  rhose  who  were 
in  want.  He  remainb  the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever.  **  We  have  not 
a  High  Priest  who  cannot  be  touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities."  To 
sympathize  with  man  seems  to  be  the  great  work  of  his  h(im;in  nature,  to  ad- 
minister to  his  wants  and  work  for  his  good  the  part  of  the  Divine  nature. 

Are  you  then  in  doubt  as  to  a  future  profession  ?  Do  not  decide  on  anything 
in  your  own  strength.  Carry  the  matter  before  God  and  in  your  daily  com- 
munication with  Him  and  in  Christ's  name  ask  His  direction.  Are  you  short 
of  means?  Is  your  return  to  study  next  year  extren?ely  doubtful  on  this  ac- 
count? Have  you  been  going  in  and  out  these  past  few  dayf  with  a  heavy 
heart  because  the  future  was  so  dark  ?  If  you  yre  God's  child,  go  to  your 
Father  and  ask,  for  He  loves  to  give  to  you,  mor«  than  you  love  to  receive.  He 
is  more  willing  to  give  than  earthly  parents  are  to  give  to  their  children.  If 
He  withheld  not  to  give  his  own  Son  when  we  were  all  enemies,  since  we  ar© 
His  children  He  will  not  withhold  now  these  meaner  things,  which  are  but  as 
^   the  dust  of  His  feet— as  compared  with  the  gift  of  His  Son. 


7 

Acquaint  then,  yourselves  with  God,  be  at  peace  with  Him,  and  all  these 
good  things  will  come  unto  you.  Iq  Him  ydu  have  comfort  and  help,  iii  Him 
you  have  direction  and  strength.  He  who  said  ^' I  will  not  leave  you  comfortless'*, 
will  verify  that  promise  in  every  one  of  you  who  put  your  trust  in  Him. 

4.  When  we  follow  the  student  beyond  the  threshold  of  his  Alma  Mater, 
when  he  takes  his  place  among  men  as  a  scholar  and  a  man,  nothing  more  em- 
inently fits  him  for  his  new  place  and  relation  than  the  spirit  of  Christ  dwelling 
in  him.  So  true  does  this  appear  to  my  mind  that  I  cannot  even  conceive  of 
success  without  it.  Suppose  that  after  graduation  a  young  man  becomes  a 
merchant,  a  lawyer,  a  physician  or  a  statesman,  and  accemplishes  all  that  he 
undertakes, — gratifies  the  desires  of  his  heart,  yet  is  a  stranger  to  God.  Re- 
member the  wakefulne?s,  the  anxiety,  the  perplexity,  the  doubt,  the  fear,  dis- 
appointment, planning,  schemirrg  and  fretting,  before  the  end  was  reached. 
Has  the  man  succeeded  ?  Has  such  a  man  reached  the  highest  possible  attain- 
ment even  in  this  life?  Have  you  ever  met  a  man  however  successful  in  these 
respects,  who  expressed  entire  satisfaction?  Lord  Ohesterfie'd  worshiped  at  the 
shrine  of  pleasure,  yet  he  grew  so  melancholy  that  his  life  \\'as  a  burden  to  him. 
Of  life  he  says,  "It  is  a  dull  journey.  As  for  myself  ray  course  is  more  than 
half  passed  over,  aui  I  mean  to  sleep  iu  the  coach  the  rest  of  the  journey," 
"  May  be  few  of  you  will,  upon  the  whole,  be  more  successful  than  Lord  Byron 
supposing  that  you  are  not  christians.  Yet  in  the  bitter  disappointment  of  his 
heart,  he  cries  out, 

"Alas  it  is  delusion  all. 

The  future  cheats  us  from  afar; 
Nor  can  we  be  what  we  recall, 

Nor  dare  we  think  on  what  we  are." 

However  scholarly  you  become,  however  successful  in  any  profession  or  occupation, 
however  wealthy  you  become,  none  of  these  things  will,  at  the  end  of  the  journey, 
be  so  strouii  a  proof  of  having  spent  a  successful  life,  as  to  have  so  lived  that  this 
thought  will  be  in  the  memories  of  those  who  mourn  for  you,  or  be  engraved  upon 
the  monument  that  marks  the  spot  where  your  body  rests,  "5e  walked  with  God, 
for  he  knew  Him,  and  was  at  peace  with  Bim.'* 

I  have  named  some  of  the  attendant  benefits  of  Christianity.  These  are  by  no 
means  all  that  might  be  named,  nor  am  I  sure  that  they  are  the  greatest,  yet  they 
are  sufficieniifi^iumber  and  importance  to  demand  the  most  careful  consideration. 
I  have  not  mentioned  these  as  the  chief  motives  by  which  you  are  to  be  guided  and 
influenced  in  seeking  an  acquaintance  with  God,  but  only  as  happy  consequences 
of  living  in  such  relation  to  him.  The  chief  reasons  for  your  becoming  christians 
are  of  a  higher  arm'  nobler  kind.  And  in  order  that  these  effects  be  most 
permanent,  it  is  necessary  that  your  motives  for  becoming  christians  be  most  ex- 
alted and  pure.     God  is  to  be  sought  for  what  He  is, — for  His  own  sake  rather  than 


^Y§ 


^> 


8  c/ 

for  yours.  Think  of  Him  and  not  of  yourselves.  Let  what  I  have  named  be  but  « 
helps  to  you,  influencing  you,  tliat  you  may  become  acquainted  with  Him  in  all  His 
goodness,  love  and  mercy.  And  be  sure  that  while  you  seek  Him  for  what  He  is 
in  Himself,  in  His  infinite  mercy  He  will  save  you,  not  for  what  you  are,  but  because 
He  loves  you,  and  for  the  sake  of  His  own  dear  son,  who  ever  intercedes  for  you. 
I  exhort  you  then,  in  conclusion,  to  make  the  glory  of  God  the  great  end  of  life,— 
in  school  and  out  of  it.  Do  this,  not  selfishly,  but  for  the  sake  of  God,  the  Father, 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Son,  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Sauctifier  and  Comforter.  Let  it  be 
the  chief  study  of  life  to  know  more  of  God,  to  become  intimate  y  acquainted  with 
Him.  Let  it  be  the  chief  labor  of  life,  to  exalt  the  honor  and  excellency  of  His 
great  name.  Let  those  of  you  who  are  yet  strangers  to  Him,  make  this  coming 
commencement  the  beginning  of  a  neiv  life  indeed — not  of  some  new  profession  or 
employment— but  of  an  eternal  life,  that  has  its  great  end  in  doing  God's  will. — 
May  the  church  and  the  world  be  better  for  your  having  lived  as  educated  men  and 
women.  With  a  sanctified  education,  yourselves  consecrated  to  God,  you  may  add 
much  both  to  the  church  and  the  world.  I  believe  that  the  time  will  then  come 
when  you  will  far  more  perfectly  comprehend  the  great  benefit  of  your^  education 
in  being  able  to  know  more,  and  enjoy  more  of  God  in  Heaven,  throughout  eter- 
nity. I  believe  that  the  advantages  of  an  education  in  this  life  are  few  and  small 
compared  with  what  they  will  be  hereafter,  only  provided  however  that  we  are  now 
given  to  Him.  Believing  this,  I  must  on  the  other  hand  believe  that  being  stran. 
gers  to  Him,  our  increase  in  intellectual  power  will  only  increase  our  sufi"ering,  by 
enabling  us  to  realize  more  fully  our  miserable,  lost  condition — from  which  may, 
God  in  his  infinite  mercy  deliver  you.  May  the  Holy  Spirit  co-operate  with  your 
most  earnest  efforts  and  lead  you  to  a  true  acquaintance  which  shall  result  in, 
making  you  perfectly  blessed  in  Him  to  all  eternity.  And  though  you  now  'see 
through  a  glass  darUy,  you  shall  see  Him  face  to  face,''  "for  when  Christ  appears 
you  shall  see  Him  as  He  is,  for  you  shall  be  like  Him," — to  which  end  may  God 
lead  you.     Amen. 


V 


BX9878.9  .S56 

A  sermon  delivered  before  the  students 


Princeton  Theological  Semlnary-Speer  Librar 


1    1012  00047  4314 


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